Just want to add that as a freelancer I had the worst experience with vice that i've ever had with a magazine. Just down-right evil, slimey business practices. But, that was just my experience.
I'd be more inclined to cut McInnes some slack if I'd seen him exhibit any evidence of being anything more than a hipster Pauly Shore. The level of air-sucking mundaneness he brings to everything he touches may be his single distinguishing trait. It's very sad. It isn't even fun to watch bad things happen to him.
@Freddie DeBoer: You might be right. I Googled around; wasn't aware of this. Ana Marie Cox apparently wrote something for In These Times in 2003 about it.
True, Vice magazine’s editors probably think of skinheads as being passé, but Vice editor Gavin McInnes’ ironic racism and in-your-face nationalism echo the sentiments of young white supremacists everywhere: "I love being white and I think it’s something to be very proud of," he told the Times. "I don’t want our culture diluted. We need to close the borders now and let everyone assimilate to a Western, white, English-speaking way of life."
It sounds like a stupid, jocular thing that VICE would write. But then again...
@Foster Kamer: There's a kind of reclaimed-manliness that happens with people like MacInnes, where when you finally grow up and discover some power, you perceive your childhood to be so "pussified" that you flip around and go the full on opposite direction and become a sort of mental bully, becoming basically a neo-con and a proud "individualist" because you feel that this is a satisfying way to be manly.
It's the same sort of insecurity that drove you to be picked on in the first place, but the converse of it. Where you're still at heart insecure, which is why you get such a fucking rush out of being "manly", and of getting beaten up in underground boxing matches and lionizing fighting like every Vice issue does (fighting is sort of fun, but once you lose part of a precious, irreplaceable tooth the gleam goes off the fucking rose real fast). Some people eventually get over that, and just start being men.
@Foster Kamer: The fucked part is that I generally think of "ironic racism" as a way to satirize racist attitudes (See Wondershowzen's "Immigrants Can Do Anything" bit or pretty much anything Wonkette has written about birthers). Then, there's using it as a tool to mock one's own accidental racism. However, Gavin McAltSteakhead has to fuck it up with this kind of statement. Either that, or the wink at the end is being omitted.
Throughout my 20s, when I was deeply into training in Japanese martial arts, I studied under a lot of very old men who have nothing left to prove to the world.
My conclusion from the whole experience is that "real men" of accomplishment and authority rarely have much to say about anything divisive.
I'm talking about men like Mikami ([www.lkakarate.com]), Oishi ([www.oishi-judo.com]), and Mori ([www.jkakarate.com]) -- witty, powerful, quiet, inscrutable, impermeable and always keeping the ethic and responsibility of power close to their hearts.
To me, the anti-hero worship of Vice, etc. (bikers, racists, terrorists, criminals, etc.) is just childish fantasy.
@SpyMagician: You guys all realize that McInnes' partner in crime is black, right? His bff, and the guy that co-owns "Street Carnage"? I don't think McInnes is racist at all...no more than any hipster, where race doesn't really matter, but someone totally 'different' does.
Also, he's Canadian, so I think a lot of that 'love being white' schtick has a lot to do with sticking it to Americans.
I worked with McInnes years ago. He's a genuinely friendly, hilarious, bombastic dude.
@Leila: I've just never been one to say, "He's got all these black colleagues/etc., so his explicit appeals for white power are A-OK. That's just me though.
@Leila: I'd like to hope this is true. That it's all just an act. Because I like what MacInnes writes, and think he's very funny. But the trouble with an act is that when you do it enough, people start to think that it's you. You have to remember to drop it once in a while.
@Leila: Ahh, so you are a neutral POV. Look, pointing out someone has a "black friend/colleague" means nothing. Racism is deeper than that. And McInnes doesn’t really seem to have any talent beyond the world of extreme publishing, and he’s a tad of a con, so I’m sure he’ll "partner" with anyone who helps finance his only way to make a living.
@Leila: Why is it that whenever Gavin McInnes' name is dragged out of the sludge into the light of day, people crawl out of the woodwork to sing about how he's got a whatever race wife, whatever race friends, and a college degree in whatever? Decent people who live their lives in a decent manner don't need to be defended like that.
I agree with the gist of his rant, but why do you have to act like you're some brave naysayer and have a weird punk hairdo just to say that it's okay to be sincere? Sincerity is better than irony. There, I said it. I'm going to have a bowl of soup now.
Don't hipsters just want to get rich and famous for some kind of art, or just not have to keep a steady job (not that that's hard for them)? They don't think they're changing the world by being cynical. I don't know if anyone but Bill Maher and Dennis Miller think that, as a matter of fact. And yes, BlogNigger, those guys are totally assholes.
It's all true though...I was kinda always like this anyway, but Obama reminded me.
Lazy, negative cynicism is something to be embarrassed of. It's all about active, positive skepticism now.
They're conceptual cousins...you can still look pretty cute (probably cuter - and less obnoxious!)while doing it and - seriously - the music is better.
And won't you feel better when you're not feigning phony oppression anymore?
the issue here is that this guy is from one generation of hipsters -- one that aspired to be angry punk rockers in the '80s new york model -- and the new dancing in the street generation of hipsters aspires to emulate anarcho punks who are kind of hippies -- taking joy in the path to attaining socio-political goals. this guys brand of hipster has been headed to the grave for awhile now. and yes, i realize how ridiculous this comment it, and also how ridiculous the hipster label has become -- there's a pretty diverse group of hipsters out there. anyway, for group 2 see matt and kim. they seem like a good example.
@smartastic: hmmm...not really. Hipsters are the most homogenous people I've ever met. Ironic, because they all think they're being so different at the same time.
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True, Vice magazine’s editors probably think of skinheads as being passé, but Vice editor Gavin McInnes’ ironic racism and in-your-face nationalism echo the sentiments of young white supremacists everywhere: "I love being white and I think it’s something to be very proud of," he told the Times. "I don’t want our culture diluted. We need to close the borders now and let everyone assimilate to a Western, white, English-speaking way of life."
It sounds like a stupid, jocular thing that VICE would write. But then again...
[www.inthesetimes.com]
09/12/09
... and @Foster Kamer beat me to the punch. You learn something new every day!
09/12/09
It's the same sort of insecurity that drove you to be picked on in the first place, but the converse of it. Where you're still at heart insecure, which is why you get such a fucking rush out of being "manly", and of getting beaten up in underground boxing matches and lionizing fighting like every Vice issue does (fighting is sort of fun, but once you lose part of a precious, irreplaceable tooth the gleam goes off the fucking rose real fast). Some people eventually get over that, and just start being men.
09/12/09
09/13/09
09/13/09
Throughout my 20s, when I was deeply into training in Japanese martial arts, I studied under a lot of very old men who have nothing left to prove to the world.
My conclusion from the whole experience is that "real men" of accomplishment and authority rarely have much to say about anything divisive.
I'm talking about men like Mikami ([www.lkakarate.com]), Oishi ([www.oishi-judo.com]), and Mori ([www.jkakarate.com]) -- witty, powerful, quiet, inscrutable, impermeable and always keeping the ethic and responsibility of power close to their hearts.
To me, the anti-hero worship of Vice, etc. (bikers, racists, terrorists, criminals, etc.) is just childish fantasy.
09/13/09
Also, he's Canadian, so I think a lot of that 'love being white' schtick has a lot to do with sticking it to Americans.
I worked with McInnes years ago. He's a genuinely friendly, hilarious, bombastic dude.
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Not buying it.
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09/14/09
[streetbonersandtvcarnage.com]
11/12/08
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Next, kickball as a metaphor for the United States' military hegemony.
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Kids will be kids however, and that's OK. Just as long as they don't forget to grow up. Oh, the irony.
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11/12/08
Lazy, negative cynicism is something to be embarrassed of. It's all about active, positive skepticism now.
They're conceptual cousins...you can still look pretty cute (probably cuter - and less obnoxious!)while doing it and - seriously - the music is better.
And won't you feel better when you're not feigning phony oppression anymore?
What took you guys so long? Party time!
11/12/08
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11/12/08